Ok, the finished comic. The pages are all different dimensions and that's fine. This version is better drawn than the original and easier to read. Tried to keep the different layers here, the Shakespeare play, Joe's thoughts (poem), his general dissatisfaction with life and lack of drive to do anything about it. Not a happy story, sure. Not meant to be. It's not even bleak as that would take more ambition than Joe has. This and he are meant to reflect those of us that feel adrift in life, that our few moments of screaming are met with quiet apathy. For Joe, life is a shrug. There's beauty all around him, and he knows it, he just can't be bothered to look up and see. This is starting to sound too much like an artist's statement. Hate those. So, here's a comic. The main character's an otter because.
Ok, so this is indeed a somewhat unpleasant image. It's the same as the original, though pulled back a little. The point of him being on the can while playing the Nintendo is to really show isolation, escape and as mundane an activity as possible at the same time. Everything he's doing here is meant to show a lack of reaching out, of dealing with the world pretty much on every level. Thick and thin metaphor I don't really expect people to get (which is not to say that I'm particularly clever). This whole comic is based on things I've gone through in one way or another, except page 4. No girl's ever directly asked me out like that. Anyway, this is the last page without text. Today I decided on how the various bits of text will appear, so that's a job for tomorrow.
Next page. A straight on view is, I think the hardest as it's so easy to try and do things utterly symmetrical. That would look unnatural but if the details are TOO far off, it's even worse. Still, this seemed the best angle for what I needed. Using a bit more of the linework in the final image. Moving on.
Here's the re-draw of page two. I altered the angle a LOT from the original, deciding to go worm's eye instead of straight on. That's one thing lacking in my work, a change of angle and it's a weakness. Took photos of me for ref, though this is all freehand. I wish I could skip a step, but to get that organic feel to the lineless Illustrator image, I need to do a pencil and ink drawing then drop out the lines as a last step. Which is fine as it means I get a nifty inked drawing out of the deal. For this, though, I really like the plain color version and think it works best for the story. Why am I redrawing a story? Can't I leave well enough alone? Well, no, I can't. Why? I'm the only one I know that actually -liked- "Sound and Fury," which is reason enough to leave it alone. Thing is, I never felt like I really gave it my best shot. Now that I've found the right way to approach it, I'm going to finish it. Too bad. I can be buried with it, doesn't matter to me. It's something I feel strongly about, so I'll keep going. Besides, it's only five pages long...
Just some morning warmup with Joe. This is a personal character not because he represents me but more because I continue to draw him in the face of general apathy. "Sound and Fury" is a favorite of my own stories as I think it really represents a subset of today's youth. Joe doesn't reach very far or try very hard. He's sort of awash in the middle somewhere, a part which is akin to me. He's a decent guy, but unremarkable. He's the friend you only later realize is there in the group. He's not totally forgotten; he is included though usually because he's with someone else. He works in retail or perhaps food service. He might make it into an office someday, though he won't rise very far. He's kind of a sad character I suppose yet reflective, I think of a lot of people. I like him but he's his own worst enemy.
haven't done any Bio comics in months.. sort of. Both of these were drawn quite awhile ago and abandoned. Dunno why. Found them in a sketch pad and decided to finish them. The first one is sort of a template for doing a Biography comic for other folks. Sort of. The second... NO idea what I was thinking. These things are supposed to be journals based on what I was thinking at the time. So the original thought is lost. Which is fine. I think it works pretty well as it is. Otherwise, I've only had time for quick sketches recently. I do want to do a Bio comic regarding mom's death, but it keeps getting larger in my head which stops me from doing it. Perhaps once the holidays are over I can get to it. Or something. For now, more sketches.
So another in this style and though I've said it before, I think we have a winner. This is 'pinball style' because it was inspired by old pinball machine art of which I'm quite fond. I think it has the right blend of cartooniness and animation, still remains 'mine,' and is appealing. I lengthened torsos from the last version, made them a little less angular, removed some outlining in places like hair and belts. This one feels most 'right' of any of the styles I've chosen thus far. It is labor intensive, though; the outlines took a long while as they all have to be done by hand. I don't think inking them would work as it would look too organic, something I generally really like. In today's animation, though, the line work is obviously done in vectors, and I don't see a reason to hide this fact. I still love my ink but this comic needs a different approach. As for the sketching step, that comes relatively easily and since they're such simple shapes, they're easier to pose. So that's my store and I'm sticking to it... for now.
Ok, some more of THIS stuff. Well, this is my first actual day off in nearly a month and all I felt like drawing was rabbits. And I'm -still- messing about with the Delve stuff. Why? Because I can do it better, I know it and I'm not satisfied. Eventually I will have to consider the designs done and move on and I understand that. To be fair, the focus of the project has changed and as such, I've had to switch things around to reflect that. What was going to be a quick and dirty D+D comic with rabbits turned into something "deeper" and more complex. There was a script and some pages started. Deep down, that didn't all feel right either and I knew I could draw better than that. So I pushed, pulled and tightened. Then I decided I wanted to try and make something more commercial in hopes of actually making some money off one of my comics for a change. Then I started watching more current cartoons and the style switched again and again. Eventually there will either BE a comic or there will be stacks and stacks of designs for the same characters which will prove, if nothing else, that I'm flexible when it comes to this kind of thing and might help in a portfolio, though I've pretty much given up on the animation industry as, let's face it, I'm too old for that game. So yah, Sharp AGAIN. I honestly feel that this version is more up to date and has more appeal than the last take on this style. I was very careful to do a greyscale test to make sure that the palette was balanced, something that's been off in the past. I've simplified as much as I can without losing character and haven't, I hope, lost myself in the process. Oh, and there's an ink drawing of the OTHER rabbit because I love my pen and it's good to stay flexible. So there.
Haven't really drawn anything in awhile. My mom passed away and I switched jobs at the same time which meant for a lot of travel and a lot of running around and really, honestly NO time for artwork at all. I'm still in training and will be next week as well, just in time for the holiday season to really get in swing. That's a life in retail, though I have hopes that this one will be better than the last. That being said, I still have this need to draw and no time. That will change after training. I should have more time than ever before to draw. Let's hope I make the best of it. These two quickies are made with a Radio 714 nib, the same model that Charles Schulz used when making Peanuts. They're long since gone, the company having gone out of business in the 60s. I found some on eBay and took a chance. I can totally see why Schulz liked them as they're far better than the current Speedball drawing nibs, smoother than crowquill. Well, I have three. I'll just have to make them last.
EDIT: here's a color version of the rabbit. Felt good to be able to do at least that.
Another one of these because that's the way the mood was swinging today. More ink, which is a good thing, and added to the mix, for the pose, was some baseball. Got him into the proportions of the latest version of the character, so it worked out ok. Face isn't my favorite but it is accurate. I think that when things are troubling me, I need heroes, be it in video games, movies or whatever. And the more basic the heroes, the better. That's why I think I'm spending time with this ugly guy instead of doing more constructive things. To be fair, I did work on a commission today, and did quite a lot on it. Still, I was itching to make barbarian, so I did.
Needed a little therapy this morning so I did some pencilling and redesigning of the barbarian blue rabbit. I think ink and character design are the two things that get me going the most. My partner claimed that Blundt looked, "like a heroin addict" so I squatted him down a bit. Perhaps this thought came from watching Conan last night. Don't know. In any case, my drawing and inking style seem to change based on mood. The more realistic, it seems, the less good the mood. The more cartoony, the better the mood. Mostly. Hadn't noticed it before. Wonder if my color choices are reflected here, too.. -Might- do something with him. Then again, I might do something with half the stuff I created. In any case, it was good to get out the brush. Been doing too much digital stuff lately and my heart is obviously in the ink bottle.
Did another one of these because I had warrior rabbits, BLUE warrior rabbits on my mind. Will I do anything else with him? Who knows? My folders are full of characters waiting to tell their stories. Some will never get their chance. Regardless, I've been looking at Paul Pope's work lately and really just totally digging his ink, so I reached for the brush. I think that no matter what media I get into, ink will always be my passion.
In response to yesterday, came home and sketched this last night after work. This morning before work, I inked and colored it. Why is he blue? No idea. And why the little red underwear? One of the things I admire most about Frazetta's work is that he had no problem attiring the men the same way he did his women. I don't know another fantasy artist that did men as alluring as he did. Is my work alluring? No, but I do like the goofiness of a warrior just wearing skivvies.
Morning warm up. Just wanted to do something loose, I'm not looking to change the style of the comic AGAIN. Mostly I've been trying to learn to think more in three dimensions and more dramatically. My stuff is too grounded in old cartoons, too much set up as if it's being watched on a stage. If I'm going to do action, I really need to move the camera around more. And all the cool kids are doing it. :"D So this isn't Sharp, this is Blunt. There. That makes it better.
EDIT: Added the original page with some other head sketches. Now, off to work.
Yah, it's been a long time since I worked on this at all, but since I got Tamino up on the iTunes bookstore and Gumroad, I've been thinking about getting this finished so I can re-release it there. My first finished comic and there are still good things about it, I think. Don't want to redo the whole thing just the first 30 pages or so which means I'm past the halfway mark. Haven't drawn the otters in a long while. Lucco's still my boy.
No, this isn't the same image as yesterday exactly. I slept on it and decided that I didn't think his face in the lower image was appealing, a word that comes up time and again when I read about animation character design. I believe it's important. A character can be ugly or strange, but it should always be appealing. Even looking through the book on Nickelodeon cartoons or watching old Popeye cartoons will show how amazingly broad the word 'appealing' can be, and yet look at a movie like "Rise of the Guardians," and see that 'appealing' can be missed just as easily. So I gave Sharp hair, changed his coloring a bit, softened his expression. The eyes really weren't working. I wanted that green, but green was clashing or strobing. So I went with a grey green which I can intensify for emotional scenes. There's something very slightly mournful about the color which appeals to me and visually (might) suggest something less than 100%, if that makes any sense. My heroes are people, slightly flawed. No Supermen here. Anyway, whether all this will mean anything in the end or not remains to be seen, but I think about it a lot. Now to actually make the damned comic...
Well, it's been nearly a month since the last posting. That has mostly to do with having gone to Europe and Boston for nearly two weeks and a general lack of inspiration otherwise. Well, got to get back in the seat. Still poking about with these designs as I really want to go for a more commercial look. In the background, I am actually working on the script for this as well which is also important. Having watched a lot of cartoons, I'm hoping I have at least some of the vibe of 'what the kids are watching these days,' though I'm not going for the CG look at all. Onwards and upwards.
